Listening and comprehension in interpreting
Questions that remain open
The study of skilled listening comprehension shows that listening is a complex, dynamic, and interactive process that
enables listeners to understand a message and respond adequately to the requirements of communicative interaction. Individual factors, such
as language proficiency, working memory capacity, and previous knowledge, interact in the listening process and performance. Moreover,
skilled listeners deploy controlled strategies directed at making the best use of their abilities to achieve a specific communicative goal.
However, our understanding of individual variables, such as language proficiency, topic-specific knowledge, and the strategies that
interpreters use when listening for interpreting, remain mostly unexplored. This article presents listening comprehension as a goal-directed
activity and articulates recent research on individual factors involved in listening comprehension with current conceptions of comprehension
for interpreting. This review identifies relevant gaps in our understanding about the comprehension process in interpreting.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Listening and comprehension in simultaneous interpreting
- Individual factors in listening and comprehension in interpreting
- Working memory and executive processes in listening and interpreting
- Language proficiency in listening and interpreting
- Previous vocabulary and topic knowledge
- Successful listening and interpreting
- Skilled L2 listeners vs. unskilled L2 listeners
- Skilled interpreters vs. unskilled interpreters
- Conclusion
-
References
References (109)
Ahrens, Barbara
2017 “
Interpretation and cognition.” In
The Handbook of Translation and Cognition, ed. by
John W. Schwieter and
Aline Ferreira, 445–460. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Albl-Mikasa, Michaela
2013 “
Developing and cultivating expert interpreter competence.”
The Interpreters’ Newsletter 181: 17–34.
Anderson, Neil
2005 “
L2 strategy research.” In
Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, ed. by
Eli Hinkel, 757–772. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Andringa, Sible, et al.
2012 “
Determinants of success in native and non-native listening comprehension: An individual differences approach.”
Language Learning 62 (s2): 49–78.
Baddeley, Alan D.
2000 “
The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory?”
Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4 (11): 417–423.
Baddeley, Alan D.
2003 “
Working memory and language: An overview.”
Journal of Communication Disorders 36 (3): 189–208.
Baddeley, Alan D. and Graham J. Hitch
1974 “
Working memory.”
The Psychology of Learning and Motivation 81: 47–89.
Bajo, María Teresa et al.
2001 “
Comprehension and memory processes in translation and interpreting.”
Quaderns. Revista de traducció 61: 27–31.
Bartłomiejczyk, Magdalena
Blasco Mayor, María Jesús
Bloomfield, Amber, et al.
2010 What Makes Listening Difficult? Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension.
Technical report TTO 81434 E 3.1. College Park, MD: University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language.
Blumenfeld, Henrike and Marian, Viorica
2007 “
Constraints on parallel activation in bilingual spoken language processing: Examining proficiency and lexical status using eye-tracking.”
Language and Cognitive Processes 22 (5): 633–660.
Blumenfeld, Henrike and Viorica, Marian
2011 “
Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension.”
Cognition 118 (2): 245–257.
Bodie, Graham et al.
2008 “
What would a unified field of listening look like? A proposal linking past perspectives and future endeavors.”
The International Journal of Listening 22 (2): 103–122.
Brunfaut, Tineke and Andrea Révész
2015 “
the role of task and listener characteristics in second language listening.”
TESOL Quarterly 49 (1): 141–168.
Chmiel, Agnieszka
2018 “
In search of the working memory advantage in conference interpreting–training, experience and task effects.”
International Journal of Bilingualism 22 (3): 371–384.
Christoffels, Ingrid
2006 “
Listening while talking: The retention of prose under articulatory suppression in relation to simultaneous interpreting.”
European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 18 (2): 206–220.
Christoffels, Ingrid and Anette M. B. de Groot
2004 “
Components of simultaneous interpreting: Comparing interpreting with shadowing and paraphrasing.”
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 7 (3): 227–40.
Christoffels, Ingrid and Anette M. B. de Groot
2005 “
Simultaneous interpreting: A cognitive perspective.” In
Handbook of Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic Approaches, ed. by
Judith Kroll and
Anette M. B. de Groot, 454–79. New York: Oxford University Press.
Christoffels, Ingrid, Anette M. B. de Groot, and Judith Kroll
2006 “
Memory and language skills in simultaneous interpreters: The role of expertise and language proficiency.”
Journal of Memory and Language 54 (3): 324–45.
Christoffels, Ingrid, Judith Kroll, and María Teresa Bajo
2013 “
Introduction to bilingualism and cognitive control.”
Frontiers in Psychology 41: 6–8.
Council of Europe
2001 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cowan, Nelson
1999 “
An embedded-processes model of working memory.” In
Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control, ed. by
Akira Miyake and
Priti Shah, 62–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cutler, Anne and Mirjam Broersma
2005 “
Phonetic precision in listening.” In
A Figure of Speech: A Festschrift for John Laver, ed. by
William J. Hardcastle and
Janet M. Beck, 63–91. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Darò, Valeria and Franco Fabbro
1994 “
Verbal memory during simultaneous interpretation: Effects of phonological interference.”
Applied Linguistics 15 (4): 365–381.
De Groot, Anette M. B.
2011 Language and Cognition in Bilinguals and Multilinguals: An Introduction. New York: Psychology Press.
Desposito, Mark and Bradley R. Postle
2015 “
The cognitive neuroscience of working memory.”
Annual Review of Psychology 661: 115–142.
Diamond, Adele
2013 “
Executive functions.”
Annual Review of Psychology 641: 135–168.
Diamond, Bruce and Gregory Shreve
2017 “
Deliberate practice and neurocognitive optimization of translation expertise.” In
The Handbook of Translation and Cognition ed. by
John W. Schwieter and
Aline Ferreira, 477–495. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Díaz-Galaz, Stephanie, Presentación Padilla, and María Teresa Bajo
Díaz-Galaz, Stephanie and Constanza López
2016 “
La omisión en interpretación simultánea: ¿fallo involuntario o estrategia comunicativa?”
Onomazein 331: 427–455.
Díaz-Galaz, Stephanie and Alejandro Torres
2019 “
Comprehension in interpreting and translation: Testing the phonological interference hypothesis.”
Perspectives 27 (4): 622–638.
Dong, Yanping and Fei Zhong
2017 “
Interpreting experience enhances early attentional processing, conflict monitoring and interference suppression along the time course of processing.”
Neuropsychologia 27 (95): 193–203.
Duñabeitía, Jon Andoni, and Manuel Carreiras
2015 “
The bilingual advantage: Acta est Fabula.”
Cortex 731: 371–372.
Field, John
2009 Listening in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gearhart, Christopher, Jonathan Denham, and Graham Bodie
2014 “
Listening as a goal-directed activity.”
Western Journal of Communication 78 (5): 668–684.
Gernsbacher, Morton Ann
1990 Language Comprehension as Structure Building. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gerver, David
1969 “
The effects of source language presentation rate on the performance of simultaneous conference interpreters.” In
Proceedings of the 2nd Louisville Conference on Rate And/or Frequency Controlled Speech October 22–24, 1969, ed. by
Emerson Foulke, 162–184. Louisville, KT: University of Louisville.
Gerver, David
1974 “
Simultaneous listening and speaking and retention of prose.”
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 26 (3): 337–341.
Goh, Christine
2000 “
A cognitive perspective on language learners’ listening comprehension problems.”
System 28 (1): 55–75.
Griffiths, Carol and Rebecca Oxford
2014 “
The twenty-first century landscape of language learning strategies: Introduction to this special issue.”
System 431: 1–10.
Hulstijn, Jan
2012 “
The construct of language proficiency in the study of bilingualism from a cognitive perspective.”
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 15 (2): 422–433.
Imhof, Margarete
2010 “
What is going on in the mind of a listener? The cognitive psychology of listening.” In
Listening and Human Communication in the 21st Century, ed. by
Andrew Wolvin, 97–126. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Ivanova, Adelina
1999 Discourse Processing during Simultaneous Interpreting: An Expertise Approach. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Cambridge.
Kalina, Sylvia
2000 “
Interpreting competences as a basis and a goal for teaching.”
The Interpreters’ Newsletter 101: 3–32.
Kade, Otto
1968 Zufall und Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Übersetzung. Leipzig: Verlag Enzyklopädie.
Kintsch, Walter
1988 “
The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model.”
Psychological Review 951: 163–82.
Köpke, Barbara and Jean-Luc Nespoulous
Lamberger-Felber, Heike
2003 “
Performance variability among conference interpreters: Examples from a case study.” In
La evaluación de la calidad en la interpretación: investigación, ed. by
Ángela Collados,
María Fernández Sánchez, and
Daniel Gile, 147–168. Granada: Comares.
Lambert, Sylvie
1988 “
Information processing among conference interpreters: A test of the depth-of-processing hypothesis.”
Meta: Translators’ Journal 33 (3): 377–387.
Lemhöfer, Kristin and Mirjam Broersma
2012 “
Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid lexical test for advanced learners of English.”
Behavior Research Methods 44 (2): 325–343.
Linck, Jared A. et al.
2012 “
Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis.”
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 21 (4): 861–883.
Liu, Minhua
2001 Expertise in Simultaneous Interpreting. A Working Memory Analysis. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas.
Liu, Minhua
2008 “
How do experts interpret? Implications from research in Interpreting Studies and cognitive science.” In
Efforts and Models in Interpreting and Translation Research, ed. by
Gyde Hansen,
Andrew Chesterman and
Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 159–178. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Liu, Minhua, Diane L. Schallert, and Patrick J. Carroll
Luk, Gigi and Ellen Bialystok
2013 “
Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage.”
Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25 (5): 605–621.
Macaro, Ernesto, Robert Vanderplank, and Suzanne Graham
2005 A Systematic Review of the Role of Prior Knowledge in Unidirectional Listening Comprehension. London: EPPI Centre, Social Science Research Unit, University of London.
Macaro, Ernesto
2006 “
Strategies for language learning and for language use: Revising the theoretical framework.”
The Modern Language Journal 90 (3): 320–337.
Macizo, Pedro and María Teresa Bajo
2006 “
Reading for repetition and reading for translation: Do they involve the same processes?”
Cognition 99 (1): 1–34.
Macizo, Pedro and María Teresa Bajo
2009 “
Schema activation in translation and reading.”
Psicológica 301: 59–89.
McDonald, Janet
2006 “
Beyond the critical period: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgment performance by late second language learners.”
Journal of Memory and Language 55 (3): 381–401.
Mellinger, Christopher D. and Thomas A. Hanson
Nation, Paul
2006 “
How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?”
Canadian Modern Language Review 631: 59–82.
Nation, Paul and David Beglar
2007 “
A vocabulary size test.”
The Language Teacher 31 (7): 9–13.
O’Malley, J. Michael and Anna Uhl Chamot
1990 Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oxford, Rebecca L.
1990 Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Paap, Kenneth R., Hunter A. Johnson, and Oliver Sawi
2015 “
Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances.”
Cortex 691: 265–278.
Padilla, Presentación
1995 Procesos de atención y memoria en interpretación de lenguas [Attention and memory processes in language interpreting]. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Granada.
Padilla, Francisca, María Teresa Bajo, and Pedro Macizo
2005 “
Articulatory suppression in language interpretation: Working memory capacity, dual tasking and word knowledge.”
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 8 (3): 207–219.
Pöchhacker, Franz
2004 Introducing Interpreting Studies. London: Routledge.
Rost, Michael
2002 Teaching and Researching Listening. London: Longman.
Rost, Michael
2014 “
Listening in a multilingual world: The challenges of second language (L2) listening.”
International Journal of Listening 28 (3): 131–148.
Russo, Mariachiara and Pippa Salvador
2004 “
Aptitude to interpreting: Preliminary results of a testing methodology based on paraphrase.”
Meta 49 (2): 409–432.
Seleskovitch, Danica
1976 “
Interpretation: A psychological approach to translating.” In
Translation. Applications and research, ed. by
Richard Brislin, 92–115. New York: Gardner Press.
Setton, Robin
2015 “
Inferencing.” In
Routledge Encyclopedia of Interpreting Studies, ed. by
Franz Pöchhacker, 189–191. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Skaaden, Hanne
1999 “
Lexical knowledge and interpreter aptitude.”
International Journal of Applied Linguistics 9 (1): 77–97.
Staehr, Lars
2009 “
Vocabulary knowledge and advanced listening comprehension in English as a foreign language.”
Studies in Second Language Acquisition 311: 577–607.
Stavrakaki Stavroula et al.
2012 “
Working memory and verbal fluency in simultaneous interpreters.”
Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 34 (6): 624–633.
Swender, Elvira, Daniel Conrad, and Robert Vicars
2012 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL Inc.
Tiselius, Elisabet
2013 “
Expertise without deliberate practice? The case of simultaneous interpreters.”
Experience and Expertise in Conference Interpreting: An Investigation of Swedish Conference Interpreters. EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste.
Tiselius, Elisabet and Gard Jenset
Tommola, Jorma and Jukka Hyöna
1990 “
Mental load in listening, speech shadowing and simultaneous interpreting: A pupillometric study.” Paper Presented at the
9th World Congress of Applied Linguistics, AILA 901, 2–11.
Tyler, Michael
2001 “
Resource consumption as a function of topic knowledge in non-native and native comprehension.”
Language Learning 51 (2): 257–280.
Tzou, Yeh-Zu et al.
2011 “
Effect of language proficiency and degree of formal training in simultaneous interpreting on working memory and interpreting performance: Evidence from Mandarin-English speakers.”
International Journal of Bilingualism 16 (2): 213–227.
Van Hell, Janet and Darren Tanner
2012 “
Second language proficiency and cross-language lexical activation.”
Language Learning 62 (2): 148–171.
Van Zeeland, Hilde and Norbert Schmitt
2013 “
Lexical coverage in L1 and L2 listening comprehension: The same or different from reading comprehension?”
Applied Linguistics 34 (4): 457–479.
Vandergrift, Larry
1997 “
The comprehension strategies of second language (French) listeners: A descriptive study.”
Foreign Language Annals 30 (3): 387–409.
Vandergrift, Larry
2007 “
Recent developments in second and foreign language listening comprehension research.”
Language Teaching 40 (3): 191–210.
Vandergrift, Larry and Christine Goh
2003 “
Orchestrating strategy use: Toward a model of the skilled second language listener.”
Language Learning 531: 463–496.
Vandergrift, Larry and Christine Goh
2006 “
Second language listening: Listening ability or language proficiency?”
Modern Language Journal 901: 6–18.
Vandergrift, Larry and Christine Goh
2012 Teaching and Learning Second Language Listening. New York: Routledge.
Vandergrift, Larry and Marzieh H. Tafaghodtari
2010 “
Teaching L2 learners how to listen does make a difference: An empirical study.”
Language Learning 60 (2): 470–497.
Vandergrift, Larry and Susan Baker
2015 “
Learner variables in second language listening comprehension: An exploratory path analysis.”
Language Learning 65 (2): 390–416.
Wen, Zhisheng, Mailce Borges Mota, and Arthur McNeill
eds. 2015 Working Memory in Second Language Acquisition and Processing. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Wolvin, Andrew
1995 “
On competent listening.”
Listening Post 41.
Wolvin, Andrew
2010 Listening and Human Communication in the 21st Century. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Yudes, Carolina, Pedro Macizo, and María Teresa Bajo
2011 “
The influence of expertise in simultaneous interpreting on non-verbal executive processes.”
Frontiers in Psychology 21: 1–7.
Zwaan, Rolf and Gabriel Radvansky
1998 “
Situation models in language comprehension and memory.”
Psychological Bulletin 123 (2): 162–85.
Cited by (2)
Cited by 2 other publications
Sun, Jingyun
2023.
Extent and patterns.
FORUM. Revue internationale d’interprétation et de traduction / International Journal of Interpretation and Translation 21:2
► pp. 258 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.